2009 Jingle Belle/Girl Time

Well this race was a girls weekend. We started on Friday night with me picking up Jen and Kristen to go to Ada Bible for a Considering Christmas women's night. There was wonderful food served and then a fabulous speaker and a chef. It was all around women and the Christmas season and being a hostess. Great ideas!

Then we headed to my house for a sleepover. This way we could all sleep a little longer in morning before leaving for Lansing. Thank goodness because we did not get to bed until after midnight. It was good that the race start time was 10am. Plenty fine for this time of the year when the temps in early morning are quite frigid.

The race course changed almost entirely from last year. This years was great! The temp was about 25 at the start and next to no wind. Much better than last year which had strong freezing cold winds. There seemed to be a lot more people as well.

I felt so wonderful during the entire race. I could not believe how much better the cold makes me feel to run. I was hoping to have a PR but with less than ideal amount of sleep I decided I would be satisfied with 30:00 finish. I was thrilled to have ran my best 5K at 27:15!

Then we headed to La Senorita for lunch. Harold (aka my GPS) took us the scenic route. But we still got there and had our fabulous lunch as well as awesome Peach margarita. Then we were off to shop and decided we would go to Howell to the Tanger Outlets. What a great decision!

I got the rest of my Christmas shopping done. We all found some great deals and had a full day with each other. By this time we were thinking about supper. So we drove back to Lansing and had our traditional race day meal at Panera. It hit the spot! Then back to the real world!

So I pulled into my drive at 8pm. Which is 12 hours after I left it. It was so great spending time with Jen and Kristen who I do not see even close to often enough. What great day!

2009 Grand Rapids Half Marathon

I had to replace my iPod sensor for my shoes yesterday so that it would work. Well when I did that I then discovered the transmitter was not being recognized by my iPod. I started to think that this race in the morning was not going to be a good day. So off I went to the Apple store to figure things out. They only had one guy that was even slightly familiar with the Nike + sensor--however, since it is made by Apple then I was hoping he could fix things. So in the end I told them I would just return the sensor and buy the kit with both items. Instead, the took my broken transmitter, my newly purchased sensor and gave me for free the new kit. So I saved $10. I was so happy! Great service!

What a great day for a race! The weather was great for a race. I am pretty sure this was my best race this season. Everything about it felt great!

The highlights: I got to spend time with Jen and Kristen. Jen and I found Bekah along the beginning of the course and throughout! . I was with Jen when she ran her longest consecutive distance. We ran the entire race. We enjoyed a smoke-free environment and delicious food at Outback for lunch.

So the course had changed and I had not paid much attention to that. It was good! The plan for today was to try and keep a fairly consistent pace. We were not really over concerned with our finish time but had our mind set on a possibility of finishing around 2:15. I had to have something in the back of my mind. My foot had been feeling much better on runs lately so I was hopeful. Well, it was a good day! Breathing was good, foot was good, and stomach was good! I could not have asked for anything better than that. It was so weird to have a race that I felt good the whole way--all the way through the finish line. Praising God!

I did not expect to see anyone we knew on the course. Well I did not see her but Jen did and she caught some fun photos--that would be Bekah's sidekick, Andrea! Thank you for being there Andrea! Thank you for catching some fun photos.

I am not for sure on the finish time--we clocked on our watched something around 2:17--------I am waiting to find results online which I am having trouble doing.

Look forward to seeing everything on the 27th! It should be a great time!

US Air Force Half Marathon 2009

Okay the week start out like this----Do I run. . . yes, NO, yeS, nO, yeS, no, YES, I will!

Well here it goes

I got up EARLY to eat. I had a bagel with PB and Jam and a banana with lots of water. I then laid back down for about 40 minutes. That was an awesome feeling. I left my sisters house headed to the race parking site. I should have arrived about 1 1/2 hours before the start. I got to the final exit and knew I was in trouble--the exit ramp was very long and both lanes were backed up onto the highway. SO I finally got to the parking to catch the shuttle at 8:10am. The start was at 8:30am. No I was not panicked or anything. I did have time to hit the port-a-john while waiting for the shuttle to pickup. Oh yeah, I also realized my Nike+ sensor was dead. Oh well, I needed the music and had my watch for my time. I got to the start at 8:20am and actually found my friend among the 10,000 runners in the area. That was definitely a GOD thing. There is no reason I should have been able to find her.

The national anthem and the flyover and then we were ready to start. The gun went off as did the people on the 13.1 mile journey. The temp at start was about 60 degrees. I wish it had been a little cooler. My first 3 miles were 9:00 miles. I felt great with my Berry Fusion Jello powder that I ate right before the start. Then I took a wrong step around the corner and my foot and heel were shooting pain. So I said to myself--now what do I do. I have a couple choices--walk which I thought I could still do and then run again if I could get my foot in order, sit down on the side of the road and hope that security came along. So I decided to see if I could walk and get my legs and feet back in order. It seemed to work. I then started running again and had not lost much time. We ran throughout base, through the General's housing, and such. It started to warm up more than I wanted but I still felt good. I was able to do the port-a-pot stop at mile 5. Then it was just a walk here and there to keep moving. My foot did not feel great by this point but was still pretty good. Then, with only 2.1 miles to go I had to stop. There was a marathon guy laying on the side of the road. Two other people came over and placed a call to the medics. They were 5 minutes out so I told them my time is nothing for me to concern myself with and that I would stay with him. He was talk (not much sensible, but talking and I could get a glazed over eye contact), then he rolled over and stood up and started to stagger along. I told him I thought that he should just stop because if he fell I would probably not be able to catch him. Then the medics came on their bikes up over the hill. YEAH! I am still wondering what happened with him once the medics arrived. I am sure he was under on Gatorade, nutrition, and water--all on his own doing because there were lots of aid stations.

So I do not have my official finish time because I forgot to stop my watch at the end. However, I am pretty sure I was under 2 hours 30 minutes. I had hoped after the wonderful start to be finishing around 2 hours. I am thrilled with my finish. I was praising the Lord the entire route with my iPod music and just thanking Him for allowing me to meet up with my friend after 20 years to run a race. She finished in just under 2 hours. Hurray!!!!

Le Tour de Donuts - Klackle Orchards

Well sometimes you do a race for the t-shirt and then there is a ride for donuts. Okay I thought how fun and yummy! Now I can say the first one was great the last one (#8) was horrible as it is sitting in my gut.

Weather--cool to cold and drizzle the entire ride
Riders--Denise (along with Paco Jr and sidekick), Kristen, Jen, and myself

So my story goes like this. We were up early so that we could arrive at Klackle's ORchard to pick up race packets. I am not sure they really had an idea what they got themselves into by sponsoring the ride. They were a little flustered on what to do if you have a line of people needing to register and ones that were pre-registered. We hot our small bag to fill with apples at the end of the ride, a t-shirt that if I had Andrea high-heels and leggings I would have to take a picture (longer dress than Reed's Lake-only in white), a couple coupons for Meijer's Naturals items. All the race volunteers were friendly and smiling through the rain.

So we ride the first ~10 miles before our first donut stop. The first loop had a crazy unexpected hill but other than that was a great ride. We pulled into the donut stop and found a seat. We drank some water, delicious apple cider, and ate some donuts (okay, I ate 4). Yikes! I also belched better, louder, and longer than Kristen. Yes, a proud moment. We then had to pull out and do the next 10 miles before we got a stop for bathroom and donuts again. Brrrrrrrrr! Until we got to riding again it was quite chilly. I think it is during this leg and not too far into it that my bike started to rebel. If I wanted to shift to my easiest gear and onto the smallest ring my chain would jump off.

So we arrived at the second donut stop and I felt the need to ingest another 4 donuts. Oh did my tummy start to hurt. Geee Pam, I wonder why. Please do not mention donuts again for a long time. After not having sugary things for almost 6 weeks I enjoyed a little too much the last two weekends. Now, I wish I could just sleep. Okay, now we are headed out again home-free in 10 miles. It seems like an easy task.

The last leg ended up being "The things that you can only laugh about" because crying would not be any good. So before mile 28 my chain had popped off a total of 5 times and the dreaded -- I got a flat. So I got all my stuff out and began to take the old tube out and put a new tube in with the assistance of Jen. HAHAHA! Wait Jen, I think I hear the tractor. YAhoooooooooo! We've got a ride back. I knew I needed to take my bike in to Village for the chain/gear issue so we might as well hitch a ride and let them finish the tire/tube issue. So we hopped on the back of the SAG vehicle with our bikes. It was a tractor pulled hay wagon.

What fun! So all of you that were home dry and warm. Now you know what you missed out on. This is my take on the ride. We did have fun but would have been better if the sun had been shining.

Reed's Lake Triathlon - 2009

Well, I had a great nights rest which I usually do not have the night before a race. I woke up and felt great. However, my stomach started acting up shortly after that. I get up with a lot of time to spare so it all worked out. By the time I left my house to meet Kristen and Jen (yahoo!) I was feeling fine.

I arrived at my bike rack at around 6:20am and was the first bike on my rack. I did not count on getting this spot but was pleasantly surprised. The air was quite cold (54 degrees) this morning but was perfect for a race.

I planned for the swim to be my weakest area so was glad that it is at the beginning. I figured my time up when I got home, and realize I was faster than at Three Rivers. I felt people kicking and nudging me as I was finishing up the last half of the swim. I swam on the outside at the back. The worse part of the swim was my yucky yellow swim cap. So I fixed that with some yucky yellow nail polish. I got to come out of the water with a high five along side Lori. YEAH! I familiar face!

Then I had a good out of the water to the bike experience. I laid my bike helmet wrong on my bike so I had trouble get my straps untangled. Other than that my transition went just fine. I was ready for the bike. I was able to get 2 training rides in so knew what to expect on the course. I have been so happy to be able to have a new road bike this year. I feel sooooooooo fast. I was under the time I had originally set for my goal time for the bike. When I was close to coming in on the bike I was so disappointed. I felt so great there that I wanted to ride more! My only bad part of the bike was taking full packet of Gu and then take a swig of water. I then went to put my water bottle back in the cage and missed and off my NICE water bottle went across the road. I had another bottle on my bike but it was Gatorade.

Then I was off to run. I stopped at the first water station out of transition so that I could have water. I still had that gut full feeling from the Gu sitting without enought water. My the back of my arch through my heel was tender and my legs were not quit ready but I started to slowly jog. Well I tried to continue and started to be able to pick up pace when my foot was telling me NO! I kept trying to walk a little, run a little, walk a little, etc. I finally found a familiar face here--YEAH it's Bekah! I thought she must have a migraine but her main concern was her stomach. So we talked, walked, and jogged together. I started to go ahead and then realized we both would do better if we could stay together and get each other through it! THANK YOU, THANK YOU Bekah for waling and jogging as we both could. I tried to kick in the last bit with my foot killing me and I felt some bad pains as I kicked it in.

So in the end, I had a great time today until the run! The run was discouraging for me. I hoped to be able to have a great run time since this year had seemed to be soooooooooooo good for my runtimes. Oh well, the best part is finishing!!!! Once again, it was so fun to be with our group. This group is the most awesome. There is absolutely none like us!

My foot feels slightly better. I have stayed off of it except with necessary to walk. I was not sure I would be walking after I finished. Thank goodness for Kristen and Jen!!!

Three Rivers Sprint Triathlon 2009

Alright, I will take my turn! What a wonderful time. I had been looking so forward to the night away and to be with all the wonderful woman that were coming to Three Rivers with the group. It was so fun to have new faces with us this year. There were lots of highlights to the weekend. It was great to get into Applebee's on-time so that we could be served and get out to see the course. They did an awesome job getting us in and enough seats for our group to enjoy dinner together. Then it was off to the course to see the beautiful Corey Lake, Susan's demonstration at the bike racks, and then to follow the big van through the sprint course. I loved that everyone got in on the nail painting and Andrea topped them all off with great colored designs. Even those that are not thrilled about pink or nail polish joined in on the fun!! We then laughed together before everyone decided it time to head to their own rooms so that my room could go to sleep. Okay that took awhile too. Kristen, Jen, and I got to enjoy having Kristi with us. What a night! We had to laugh ourselves to sleep.

I have decided 3 1/2 to 4 hours is a good time for me to eat before a race. I have the best chance of stomach distress if I do that. So at around 4am I was up and having breakfast. Kristi and I soon had Jen awake and helping us get prepared to head out the door. We got to the parking lot to see that Susan, Andrea, and Bekah had not left and became worried that they had slept through their alarms. Thank goodness, they just decided that they could wait a little later than they originally planned to leave.

Well we got to Corey Lake and it was still really dark. I got everything setup and my spot picked out. It was quit chilly but I knew it was perfect for a tri. The air temp was around 64 but the water temp I think was 71. So instead of freezing when we jumped in it was beautiful temp.

I counted on the swim being my weakest link. So I just got in and when the start began I took the outside and started swimming staying away from the big crowd. I tried to focus on everything from the swim clinic as I was out there. About halfway back there was a girl that kept trying to out swim me and was swimming closer and closer to me. So I swam a few extra strokes to widen away from her and then tried to remember to use my entire leg to kick and get my strokes going strong. YEAH! I beat her out of the water. I ran out of the lake to my spot, which I was not able to do last year. I then got everything on and headed out on the bike. I started up the hill and saw that I had forgot to put my race belt on and that it was on my handlebars. So I wrapped it around the handle bars so as not to lose it out on the bike. I made the turn off the main road and headed out to go up the hill. I obviously shift down too quickly and my chain jumped right off. No problem, I thought, Denise showed me how to release the tension from the back and lay it on the front ring. HOwever, you do need to unclip from your bike before this. If you forget you will bite the pavement. Well I got up with only a nice scrapped up knee. I am so thankful for Rebekah praying for all of us. I am sure that is why I got this all handled and was able to get back on. I was mad because I wanted to make up on the bike and run for my slower swim time. So I pedalled like mad and decided the I would beat the hills. I loved them on my new bike. They felt much different than last year. Then it was off on the run which I also was able to run out of the transition area to begin. The run felt much better this year. I met a lady who turned 65 and this was her first tri. She had back surgery last year and then decided she was bored and needed something to do. Way to go!

So overall, I had an awesome day. My knee is a little tender. I have what I think is plantar facisitis in my left foot so need to take a little break for it so that I am ready for Reed's Lake. I am so excited!

Thank you for all the photos, encourgement, cheering, fun, laughs, etc. from all! Thanks Kristen and Jen for still coming with me even though you were not participating in the swim, bike, and run. All of you that came to encourage and cheer us on were awesome! It was great to see how many of our group were award winners. Of course, we were all awesome winners for just finishing what we started.

Reed's Lake 10K

Well I am noticing I am long overdue for this entry. Better late than never; I guess.

So this race was a little different for me. One thing is Kristen decided to do the 5K and then Jen and I did the 10K. This way we all got to be together quickly at the end to partake of the after race party food. Hamburgers, hotdogs, fruit, chips, ice cream treats, soda, . . . .yummy!

So Kristen usually gets us pumped up at the beginning of the race but she was finishing her 5K while we were getting ready to start the 10K. Jen and I were surprised about how quiet everyone was. It was 10 minutes before the race start and nobody had even thought about getting some order to the line up. Hmmmm! What is this race going to be like today??

I always have to use the bathroom several times before we take off. This day was no different. However, the library bathrooms were available to us so we got to use nice indoor bathrooms instead of port-a-johns. THe pleasures in life.

So todays race was going to be a win or loss. My time was just a small part of the outcome. Last year, this race ended up being bad for me. I wore my heart rate monitor and ended up walking a lot of the race because of my heart rate being to elevated. This year I have been running without it and going on how I feel. It has been much better. SO I assumed that it would be a better race. I need to run the entire race -- okay I could take very short walking breaks, I needed to run the big hill, and I wanted to better my time (last year was over 12:47 per mile).

I did a lot of self talk throughout this race. Jen had her own agenda in for this race. So we were not running side by side for half the race. I kept a good pace throughout and walked through all the water stops. The weather was close to perfect. It had started to warm up a little so that the humidity was picking up. By the time we ended it was warmer than I liked.

Well in the end I was just over my 1 hour time goal with a finish time of 1:00:59. Yahoo! I ran almost the entire race. Yahoo! I also ran up the hill and was able to continue to run after that. Big Yahoo! So all in all the race went very well for me.

Now to learn to talk to my bladder. I had to use the bathroom from mile 2 on. There was no place to go along the course. I have never seen a race without at least 1 port-a-john. At least there was a line of open ones at the finish.

My iPod that has become my running buddy decided to jump out of my shirt and into the trough of ice water that the water bottles were setting in. Oh no it will never work now. I cannot buy a new one. Well it works fine and I had not problem. I just let it sit and dry for a couple days.

Another race down. The next race is the Three Rivers Triathlon. What will it bring?! A night with the girls! Yahoo!

Fifth Third River Bank 10K - 2009

Well thanks Denise for starting. What a wonderful story. You looked great when I saw you at the finish and the port-o-johns!!! :)

I woke up extra early to eat my pre-race meal. I had been having trouble with eating and then trying to run but needed something. So when I got up at 4am it was a downpour. I knew I liked to run in the rain so when I saw weather reports of rain I was not too bothered. However, it was pouring and then by 5 or 5:30 it was lightning. So my thoughts were that I had been looking forward to this race and the 8am start and that may all get moved because of lightning. It did not. YEAH!

Jen, Kristen, and I gathered at my house for my lovely husband, Jim to wake up and take our picture. THen as we headed out the door the rain had stopped. I bought a pair of running pants at Goodwill so that if I needed them until the start I could leave them there. Instead, I got to keep them. Bonus!

We parked by the Y and walked up to the crowds. The excitment begins. We always look for the ladies fromn the group and can never seem to find anyone. We found a lot of you today!

So I had a goal to finish in 1 hour. So I wrote splits on my arm with permanent marker and was able to check in each mile to see where I was. The wind right after the start and the sky turning black was a sign of weather ahead. It started a light rain shortly after that and continued through to almost the end. Okay the rain picked uip and then slowed down and picked up. It was perfect to keep cooled off. It was a great run!

I felt really good through the whole race. I cannot remember things by miles. However, the more people cheering the better it was. The 5K portion of the course was packed with people. It was amazing to still see the big crowds when it was pouring rain. It is one thing to be out there running in it and an entire different thing to be standing in it cheering. I saw Wells out on the course--yeah a familiar face. The other thing that was amazing for me, who seems to have to pee all the time when running, was the number of port-o-johns on the course. I think in the first 3 miles there were over 5. I was more than happy to be able to run by them.

The finish shot was the best. I was able to see the finish banner and know it was home free from there. Okay it was time to empty any reserves I had. It felt great! Now it's off to Reed's Lake Run on Sat, Jun 27th---Are there others coming for that one???

Oh yes, I am glad that we could share with you and Wells outside the port-o-johns at the finish. HAHA! ANd by the way you do not need cleavage or body glide to tuck stuff in the bra. If you have a good fit sports bra it will all tuck in. It is a great iPod sleeve.

HAPPY RUNNING ladies! 2009 is going to be good.

YellowJacket 5K, Greenville, MI

Okay what a race! I decided to try and be faster. My good buddy decided to run the first mile as if she was running for her life. So the rest of the race was a little painful. We will do much better about pacing in future races. Lesson learned!

This was overall a good day! Jen, Kristen, and I left church and picked up Subway for lunch. We then headed to Kristen's to eat and look over our training and race schedules. We then changed and got ready to head to the race. A picture taken by Keana before we departed. YEAH!

We wondered if we would get to race before the rain and we did. The rain started about the end of the race. Craig came to watch us; okay to watch his lovely wife, Jen. What a surprise!

We then finished the day off with a trip to Dollar General, WalMart, and then Taco Bell. Now time to head home to get ready for the work week.

Next race, is Saturday, May 9th in Grand Rapids. The Fifth Third Riverbank 10K. This is an exciting race for many reasons. We are working on trying to run the 10K in 60 minutes or less. There will be tons of people there and delicious after race food.

Another 5K PR for me. I knocked 5 seconds off my per mile time. YAHOO!

Irish Jig 2009

The weather forecast was for snow flurries. Oh no! I thought it was the beginning of spring. Well you just never know what the weather is going to be.

I have been working through the training for the Fifth Third Riverbank 10K training plan. This is a much earlier start to my training than last year. So I wondered how the race would go. My training runs were up to 5 miles now. So a 5K shouldn't be bad at all, right??

So I started the day with my oatmeal. Then went to meet "the girls" a.k.a. Jen and Kristen. Upon arriving at our meeting spot we are convinced we need to make a stop at Biggbys for coffee. And we get the wonderful young lady behind the counter to take our picture. And then we were off to the race site.

The snow had pretty well stopped but the breeze was cool. We parked and were ready to walk to the start. We ended up in the restroom line too late so had to revert to the port-a-potty. Oh well, if you have to go you have to go.

So I decided to use to old school pre-race nutrition. Okay nutrition is not probably a good word for this. It was the Jello powder. I don't think we had gel back when I was in high school. So I remembered pouring the Jello mix into our mouths. It is a great sugar rush. So that is what I chose for this race. I even convince "the girls" to give it a try. They still ate some beans and gel.

Well the start was very crowded. It was a great day for a race!

I checked my watch at the 1 mile mark--Oh NO--I thought can I keep up this pace for the entire race or did I start out too fast. My practice runs have been 10:20 to 11:00 depending on the day and distance. Well my 1 mile split was 9:36. I had been hoping I could do 10:00 miles so I was thrilled with 9:36. Well I just kept going. I think my iPod music had to do a lot with being able to keep the pace. Upbeat, fast music keeps the feet going at a faster rhythm.

End result--a PR--28:42!!! I am thrilled ( 9:14 per mile pace). Excitment fills me as I think ahead to what is in store for this season.

My verses---

PHIL 4:13 For I can do anything through Christ who gives me strength.

PHIL 4:6 Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything.

Isaiah 40:31 But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.